LEWISBURG, Pa. — The No. 17-ranked Fordham University water polo took down host Bucknell University, 14-11, and Division III No. 8 Johns Hopkins University, 21-8, in Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) action at the 2023 Bucknell Invitational.
With the win, Fordham improved to 6-3 on the year, 2-0 in the MAWPC, and extended its conference win streak to 20 games.
The Rams opened the day by corralling the Bucknell Bison.
Trailing 5-3 after the first quarter, the Rams took charge in the second quarter, scoring all four goals in the period for a 7-5 lead. The attack was led by Balazs Berenyi, who netted a hat trick in the quarter, while George Papanikolaou had the other marker.
Fordham extended the lead to four at 9-5 in the third quarter following goals by Jacopo Parrella and Barnabas Eppel.
The Bison fought their way back within one on two different occasions in the fourth quarter, the last at 11-10 with 4:11 to go in the game. Fordham then put the game out of reach, scoring three times in just over 1:30 of game time to regain a four-goal edge at 14-10. Bucknell scored a final goal in the last minute for the 14-11 final score.
For Fordham, Berenyi finished with four goals and two assists, while Papanikolaou netted three goals. Luca Silvestri and Parrella each scored twice with Lucas Nieto Jasny having a goal, five assists and two steals. Gabriel Mellilo and Eppel had the remaining tallies for the Rams.
In net, Riccardo Di Giuseppe made eight saves to go with an assist.
In match two, the Rams cruised to a 13-goal defeat of Johns Hopkins.
Fordham opened with an 8-2 lead after the first quarter and kept building the lead to 19-4 by the end of the third quarter.
For Fordham, 12 different Rams had at least one goal in the game. Eppel, Nieto Jasny and Silvestri each scored a hat trick with Papanikolaou having two goals and seven assists. Paul Armingol and Parrella had two goals apiece with Berenyi, Jagger McMannis, Mark Katsev, Christian Gotterup, Reid Thorson and Brendan Cassidy had the other goals.
Di Giuseppe played the entire game in net, making a season-high nine saves.
Release courtesy Fordham University Athletics Communications
